Is personal debt the plague of the 21st century?

Have you been there? Faced with a choice between two pairs of gorgeous shoes, and you know you only have enough spare cash that month for one pair, so what do you do…..charge them of course!

Or all your friends are heading out to dinner and you really want to go, but you’re skint. So you go, but are careful about what you order, nothing expensive, no cocktails, no sweet. Horror! Everyone agrees to split the bill, and it’s so much more than you have with you, so you squeeze a little more onto the credit card.

Why is personal debt so rampant? And how has it become so acceptable?

Well, one part of the answer to the first question, is that even though we are living in the richest era of mankind (those of us in the western world at least), we take home so little of what we earn. 

When the peasants and lower classes revolted against taxation in the Middle Ages, their fuedal lords were helping themselves to between 10 to 20% of their serfs produce. Luckily, the wonderful, charitable Robin Hood stepped in to save the citizenry from such severe injustice.

Fast forward to the 21st century. Think about this….after tax, we take home less than 50%, less than half of what we earn. 

income tax, national insurance, council tax, VAT, duty surcharges on fuel, cigarettes, alcohol, and any other import the government sees fit to tax punitively. Stamp duty, water rates, and there’s no escaping when you die, as they take their chunk from what you leave behind in inheritance tax.

We are paying ever increasing taxation demands, and there are little men in dark rooms whose job it is to think up new ways for the government to take our money. One of their newest incentives is the ‘bin tax’, and if you don’t recycle you’ll be charged.

Another is the road toll. Now, in addition to paying a road tax and the highest fuel tax in Europe, our government plans to charge us for driving on the roads! That’s what we have our cars for!

Never mind that the government has mindboggling amounts of our money and yet the Health Service, Schools, Further Education, and local services are the worst they’ve been in years. that’s a subject for another day.

Never mind that our armed forces are the lowest than they’ve ever been,  with our troops buying essential kit themselves. Again, a subject for another day.

So, even though we’re living in the richest period known to man, we’re not getting our fair share of it.

Couple that with the constant bombardment of marketing messages we are subjected to every day. According to the papers, tv, most media in fact, the only people that count are those who are wealthy, who have big houses, drive flash cars, wear the right clothes and who eat and drink at the best places.

So, based on the meagre amount left over for you from your wages, how do you afford that lifestyle? Credit, of course!

Banks and loan companies sell credit cards, loans and mortgages based on the lifestyle you want. Afford that holiday now, never mind that you’ll be paying for it for 3 years and won’t be able to go anywhere next year. Just take out another loan, or put it on your card.

There’s always an attractive low interest hook to catch your attention but it seems once they have you, they really do have you. The promotional interest period runs out and yet you’re still a customer, not only that, but you’ve upped your credit limit and are spending more.

Then they’ll sell you consolidation packages, new lines of credit to get you into even more debt.

The system is morally bankrupt, it is corrupt.

I was mired in this system up until recently, thinking that this just is the way the world is. That everyone uses credit cards, that I had a problem controlling my expenditure, that it was my fault.

Hallelujah, I found rescue. And no, it wasn’t a man in green tights. Instead it was in the form of a small ad in one of the Sunday papers;

‘eliminate your debt’ it said.

‘How?’ said I.

That lead to a wonderful journey of discovery. I joined The Ultimate Entrepreneur Club and started to discover the secrets of the financial institutions. I started to think again, not simply do as I was told. I now refuse to be intimidated of the size and authority of institutions that I was brought up not to question.

I have learned that my money is MY MONEY. It is not the government’s, it is not the bank’s, it is mine.

I am learning now about debt cancellation, yes it is possible. Untaxation, yes it is possible.

The Ultimate Entrepreneur has also given me an opportunity to not only get out of debt, but to create a cash rich business that will guarantee my future prosperity.

So, is personal debt the 21st century plague? I believe it is, but luckily there is an antidote.

find out more here